A Mastermind champion is on the hunt for quiz glory again as he bids to become the Brain of Britain.

Michael Penrice, 58, who lives near Wigton, has beaten off stiff competition to reach the final of the renowned BBC Radio 4 quiz show.

He managed to win his semi-final on Monday evening and listeners will find out if he wins the top prize when the final is broadcast on May 15.

The competition has been running for more than 60 years and attracts some of the best minds in the country.

Mr Penrice, who won Mastermind in 2001, had to go through an audition round answering 30 tough questions before producers selected 48 people to compete in this year's show.

The entrants were then split off into groups of four who would compete over 12 shows.

Contestants get asked a question and if correct keep answering until they get five in a row and win a bonus point. If you get a question wrong it moves onto the next person. After six or seven rounds the player with the most points wins.

"It's pretty high calibre," Mr Penrice, who is an A-level history and politics lecturer at Carlisle College, told the News & Star .

"For example Isabelle Heward who won this year's Mastermind, she is in the semi-final as well.

"This is definitely harder than Mastermind. There's no specialist round and the general knowledge questions are harder. It also gets harder as the rounds progress."

He continued: "We are not competing for money but for glory and prestige."

The ex-Austin Friars School teacher is now preparing for the final when he'll face off against another three boffins.

It's been a long-held ambition of Mr Penrice to enter the competition after being a regular on TV quiz shows in the early 2000s while he was in charge of St Ursula's School in Wigton.

Have a go at Michael's semi-final questions: